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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "ferrandodejorgeluis@aol.es" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Attorney At Law." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <do-not-reply@fr.org>
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:23:32 +0100
Subject: Re: Seeking Executor of Last Will and Testament.
Attention:
On behalf of the Trustees and Executor of the estate of Late Engr. Alfonso Gonzalez I once again try to notify you as my earlier letter was returned undelivered.I hereby attempt to reach you again by this same email address on the WILL.
I wish to notify you that Late Engr. Alfonso Gonzalez made you a beneficiary in his WILL. He left the sum of Thirty Million, One Hundred Thousand Dollars (USD$30,100.000.00) to you in the Codicil and last testament to his WILL: You are advised to contact me with my personal email address Email with 24 hours: ferrandodejorgeluis@aol.es I await your prompt response and please keep this very discrete and to yourself until the transfer of the money.
Regards,
Barr,Ferrando De M.J.Luis.
A. At Law
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Anti-fraud resources:
